Taking pictures of the christmas tree?

[Minnie824]

So, I'm not much of a photographer...I love taking alot of pictures but not all that familiar w/all the settings. I'm trying to take a nice photo of our christmas tree this year, at night w/the lights on and capture the 'setting'. It seems it either turns out too light, or if I try the 'night' setting, its blury (no stand to put the camera on). Can someone give me some good tips to take a good picture of the tree this year, w/the right settings? Thanks!

 

[VVFF]

So, I'm not much of a photographer...I love taking alot of pictures but not all that familiar w/all the settings. I'm trying to take a nice photo of our christmas tree this year, at night w/the lights on and capture the 'setting'. It seems it either turns out too light, or if I try the 'night' setting, its blury (no stand to put the camera on). Can someone give me some good tips to take a good picture of the tree this year, w/the right settings? Thanks!

What camera do you have. You may be able to pull off a handheld shot but its going to probably require use of manual mode. If you have a manual mode zoom all the way out, set the aperture(denoted by F#.#) to the lowest value possible and then adjust the exposure time until you get a picture that looks correct. If you have a camera with image stabilization this will be easier.

Otherwise, get something to set the camera on and use the night mode. No way around a stable surface sometimes.

The tree will typically also look best with a small aperture...but that doesn't bode well for you hand holding a shot.

 

[GrillMouster]

Turn off the flash. If your camera has manual setting, try that. Set the ISO low, the aperture to f/5.6 or f/8. Start off with a shutter speed of a few seconds (I'm completely guessing about that setting). If the image is too dark, then use a longer shutter speed or if it's too light, use a shorter shutter speed. Keep taking test shots until the exposure looks right. Don't worry about the image being blurry; that's gonna happen while you're hand-holding the camera at slow shutter speeds. You just want to make sure that the image is not too dark or too light. When you think you've got the settings for the exposure you want, then set the camera on a chair, table, or anything stable if you don't have a tripod, and use the camera's delayed timer (so the camera's perfectly still at the moment that the shutter is open).

 

[Tillikumtrainer]

you can use what called museum or aquarium mode which lessens the flash and brings up the picture with less shake what type of camera you have?

i just use auto mode on occasion this is what i get with the rockefeller tree:

 

[VVFF]

Took this one tonight of our tree...mid decoration. It was a 30 second exposure so again a stable surface(or tripod) is needed for optimum results. Could have I have taken this picture handheld with different camera settings? Probably...but it wouldn't look as good.

 

[Minnie824]

Thanks for the tips! I'll try some of them out tonite. To answer the question...I have a canon powershot S3 camera. Thanks!

 

[ThurlFan]

I have an S3 also, and I've managed to get some nice shots of our tree. I'll look up the settings I used tonight and let you know.

 

[dydo2424]

I have an S3 also and I am curious as to how to get a good shot of the tree. Do you leave any other household lights on to get these glowing photos or turn everything off but the tree lights?

 

[VVFF]

I have an S3 also and I am curious as to how to get a good shot of the tree. Do you leave any other household lights on to get these glowing photos or turn everything off but the tree lights?

It'll be easier to handhold with some house lights on but you will miss out on the ambient light glow from the christmas lights if you do this. There are some lights on in other rooms in the background of my picture but that wasn't because I wanted them to be on...they just were. wasn't enough to in any way affect the picture.

For the S3...since I had it before, I'd throw it in manual, ISO 80(tripod) or ISO 200(handholding), zoom all the way out, Aperture at F2.7(Handholding) or F7.1(tripod - I believe that was the maximum) and then adjust the shutter speed for a good exposure with some glow from the lights but not so much that the lights lose their saturation(color)

If your shutter speed is still slower than 1/10th a second or so after all this then you'll probably need a tripod. Either that or you'll have to venture into ISO400 or ISO800 which will likely let you hand hold it but your photo will be pretty grainy.

 

[dydo2424]

It'll be easier to handhold with some house lights on but you will miss out on the ambient light glow from the christmas lights if you do this. There are some lights on in other rooms in the background of my picture but that wasn't because I wanted them to be on...they just were. wasn't enough to in any way affect the picture.

For the S3...since I had it before, I'd throw it in manual, ISO 80(tripod) or ISO 200(handholding), zoom all the way out, Aperture at F2.7(Handholding) or F7.1(tripod - I believe that was the maximum) and then adjust the shutter speed for a good exposure with some glow from the lights but not so much that the lights lose their saturation(color)

If your shutter speed is still slower than 1/10th a second or so after all this then you'll probably need a tripod. Either that or you'll have to venture into ISO400 or ISO800 which will likely let you hand hold it but your photo will be pretty grainy.

Thanks for the info. I LOVE your photo! I am still learning how to use the different settings on my camera. I rarely venture out of "auto". Is there a book that you would recommend for the beginner? Thanks again..

PS.. i just this minute learned how to change the ISO...

 

[mom2rtk]

I guess I better buy a Christmas tree first.......

 

[Minnie824]

Where do you go to change the aperture and shutter speed?

 

[VVFF]

Where do you go to change the aperture and shutter speed?

If you are in M mode(manual) then the right and left controls one...I believe aperture and the up and down arrows controls shutter speed. You should see the numbers moving up and down on the bottom of the screen.

 

[VVFF]

Thanks for the info. I LOVE your photo! I am still learning how to use the different settings on my camera. I rarely venture out of "auto". Is there a book that you would recommend for the beginner? Thanks again..

PS.. i just this minute learned how to change the ISO...

Thanks! Most people recommend "Understanding Exposure". I have never read it myself as I had already picked up those aspects of photography the first time I heard of it. However, if you don't have much of an understanding of shutter speed ISO and aperture then its probably a good buy.

Congrats on figuring out how to change ISO. It's an important first step to improving your pictures!

 

[VVFF]

Please post your results whether it turns out or not guys. I can provide feedback even if they didn't turn out as to what you can change. Also post what you did before taking the shot.

 

[raysnkaysmom]

Took this one tonight of our tree...mid decoration. It was a 30 second exposure so again a stable surface(or tripod) is needed for optimum results. Could have I have taken this picture handheld with different camera settings? Probably...but it wouldn't look as good.

great shot! Beautiful tree (and window)

 

[wenrob]

I have an S3 also and I am curious as to how to get a good shot of the tree. Do you leave any other household lights on to get these glowing photos or turn everything off but the tree lights?

If you want to be able to see the ornaments a little bit better as well as have that "glowy" look. As mentioned a stable surface with a longer shutter speed to get the glow and a single light on behind you. My dining room light was on for this one about 30ft away. (I have an open floor plan)
F/11 about 15-20ish seconds:

 

[dydo2424]

I am going to try to post a photo. We'll see how it goes...I can't remember exactly what I did for this photo. I know I set the ISO low, but I'm not sure how to change the shutter speed on my camera yet.... I couldn't find the tri-pod so had to just sit the camera on a counter. My house is very small so zooming way out gets a lot of stuff in the photo that I don't really want to see...




well, it's there, but tiny! LOL! I'll try again

 

[ThurlFan]

Finally got this uploaded. It was shot with my Canon S3, f/2.7 1/13 sec on tripod. I've lost the ISO setting from the exif on this file, but I'm pretty sure it was 400. Picture was not taken after dark, can't remember exactly when, so there was some ambient light from the windows in the next room.

If I was to do it again, I'd use a smaller aperture, lower ISO, and slower shutter speed but this did clean up nicely using Imagenomic's Noiseware Community Edition (below)

 

[xipetotec]

Here is out tree:

iso 400 f/16 1.3s

Also, if you look behind it, it's Christmas town:

iso 400 f/16 2.5s

And in the middle of the night, lit only by "moonlight" ( porch light "daytime" light )

iso 400 f/8 0.8s